With so many great cameras, cell phones and digital editing available to us, are we supporting the efforts of these wonderful professionals or are we simply sharing their watermarked photos on social media and moving on? Everyone loves a candid shot; they capture the spirit of the dog. What a candid amateur photo cannot do is capture a dog and handler at the moment they are connected or freeze the motion needed for that great jump off the dock.  

The use of a watermarked photo posted on social media is a complete disregard for the photographer. Unfortunately, most social media sites do not prevent the person from sharing the image online. Therefore, we must hold ourselves accountable; we must delay satisfaction just a bit. While it is exciting when you see a great image of your dog, and the urge to share is strong, it is important to wait on purchasing the digital file. If you have purchased a photo and want to share, ask the photographer if it is okay to share the watermarked image and give them credit in the post. The respect shown in a simple sentence such as “Watermarked image shared with permission of…” goes a long way.

I am not saying that everyone who posts a watermarked photo with the statement “Photos will be purchased” is not speaking truthfully. I am sure that in most cases this is true. But in full disclosure, I have posted a photo and forgotten to go back to purchase it. This was not with ill intent. In some cases, I have simply moved on to the next moment in life, in others I may have selected a different photo to purchase. In some cases, I decided that we didn’t really need a photo from that show. In all cases I should have purchased before posting.

We pay our groomer for grooming our pet, we pay our dock diving fees, and we pay for the hotels we stay in. We need to show the same respect to our photographers before posting. This is their passion and their profession. Let’s work together to respect and appreciate their work and compensate them for their efforts. It’s the only way to keep those gorgeous photos coming.

So here goes nothing – this year has just been amazing! This has been the best year our business has had by far. I’m amazed at how well we have done. I did a lot of traveling and met so many wonderful people and their pets.

I have now lost 150 pounds and feel awesome! I’m able to stand and move around a lot better which I think has helped my photography business. I can go up hills and walk a lot longer and find those great places to take photos of. My breathing has improved by 10% now that I no longer smoke or vape. So, that makes it much better for me as well.

I’m still learning new Photoshop skills every month and that helps me a lot with taking my images to the next level. I love creating one of a kind items for clients. I know I still have so much more to learn and that’s exciting to me. I’ll just keep plugging along and keep learning.

I did start advertising a lot more using Facebook and I feel that has helped get our business name out there. I don’t have tons of money to spend on advertising and Facebook is relativity cheap to advertise.

We have started recording live photo sessions on our Facebook page and I think those will help get us noticed as well. They are so much fun to do. I want my fans to feel that they are a part of my business. After all, they are the reason our business even exists.

So that’s about it for now. I’ll publish another blog when this year is over. I told you I’m not very good at this blog thingy.

So unfortunately 2015 didn’t end very well for our family. November 2^nd we lost two of our dogs. Cyrus and Blade were put down unexpectedly due to a pack fight. I won’t get into the specifics but needless to say our pack is smaller now and it has been hard for me to move forward.

The holidays were busy for me with photo sessions which was a good thing in keeping my mind off the loss of my two boys. I had a great time with my photo session at Katy’s new place. I can’t wait to see her new dock diving pool.

So 2016 started off pretty well. I had several portrait sessions here in Columbus and even had a Valentine photo session at the Super PetSmart. That was a lot of fun!!! I can’t wait to do it again.

This year I’ve decided to spend more money on our marketing and less on props and other photography gear. It’s time to start spreading the word about our business. I plan on purchasing flyers and getting my butt out there and hitting the streets. Word of mouth has been great but it’s time for me to start putting in some hard work. I hope it pays off.

I’ve lost 120 pounds over the course of a year and I only have 30 more pounds to go in order to reach my goal weight of 150 pounds. It’s been hard but well worth it. It has been two years since I quit smoking I certainly don’t regret that choice! I love being able to breath now. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t achieve your goals because if you set your mind to it you can do anything!!!!

Big Bear Canine Center Activity just had their first dock diving event this past weekend and I really enjoyed it. I got to see a friend I hadn’t seen in over a year. It was so great to see her and catch up on things. I love photographing dock diving dogs. To capture their faces doing something they love makes me so happy.

So until next time Peace out.  

I was a smoker for 32 years and in 2014 my husband introduced me to vaping. So in February of 2014 I made the switch to vaping. It took me one day to make the switch. I must admit it wasn’t really that difficult because I was replacing one bad habit for another bad habit but I felt that vaping was a better alternative than actually smoking.

I went to see my doctor in the beginning of 2015 and found out that I weighed 301 pounds. I actually felt defeated and felt that I was not going to ever come back from this. I didn’t know what I was going to do. She prescribed me a weight loss pill and told me a lot of obese people had pretty good results with it. I knew it wasn’t a magic pill so I decided to make some changes of my own.

I stopped drinking diet soda and stopped eating any fast food. I stopped eating all foods that contained sugar. No more cupcakes, cookies, pies, cakes, ice cream, and or junk food. I started cooking at home and actually loved it!

I knew exercising was going to be the next big step for me because I hate exercising!!!! Once the weather warmed up I decided to get outside and start walking with my dogs. Now I am working out just about every day.

The last step I just made a few days ago was to put the vape down. Boy that was a tough one! It has been three days without vaping and it has been HARD!!!! I know I can do it but some habits are really hard to break.

So 2015 really is about me getting me where I need to be – HAPPY AND HEALTHY!

The month of March we had a photo session in Rome Ga which turned out really nice. Met some new people and their pets and got to see some old friends as well. Cyndy made me feel right at home with her awesome hospitality.

April I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph Sun Valley’s Horse show. They had some beautiful horses there and for the very first time I photographed children riding. I really did envy those children because they were living a dream I still have as an adult, owning my own horse.

May I made the trip to Beaver Creek Arabian Farms and photographed Patreas beautiful Arabians. She had some new additions to her farm and I love photographing those fillies and colts. She is always awesome to visit and she puts me up in her beautiful home so it’s like a vacation for me.

I also made the trip to Night Diamond Arabians Farm in May. I spent the weekend at Julie’s house and photographed some beautiful Arabians. I always love visiting with her and Mike.

September I drove to Atlanta for a photo shoot with some doggie models. I got to photograph some major preppy dogs. They were so cute with their dresses on. What a treat that was.

October one of my dreams did come true. I went with Taylor and Brandy to a beach in Florida and photographed Owen and Taylor together. What a beautiful day and time we all had. I will never forget it.

November and December we had three Christmas photo sessions. It was busy but so worth it. I got to meet some new fur babies and see some old friends. I love our Christmas sessions.

I had several photo sessions throughout the year and I got to meet some really awesome fur babies.

I enjoyed all the dock diving events I went too and I can’t wait for the season to start up again. I will be limiting my trips to the dock diving events in Georgia this year but I will be attending Pine Mountain and Harvard K9 faithfully.

Several of my images were published in magazines this past year and that was very exciting.

All in all 2014 was a great year for our business. I can’t wait to see what 2015 brings us.

<Peace out>

I had a real treat being able to photograph a Great Dane jumping off the dock. Enzo was such a character. He even got some lift off the dock.  It was really weird to see such a big dog swimming in the pool. He could walk across the bottom of the pool if he wanted to. I loved the huge splashes after he jumped in.

I also loved photographing Dan diving in the pool with his two Labs Dewey and Jasper. That was so exciting to capture on camera. Those dogs love him.

I really loved meeting new people and seeing old friends. I finally got to meet Tro’s owner Josh. What a great team those two make. Tro is one amazing dog! I got to do a quick photo session with Tro away from the pool. I hope I get more opportunities to photograph Tro in the future.

It was a tough weekend lighting wise. The sun just did not want to corporate at all. It was always in a bad location and that caused me a lot of headaches. I did the best I could and got through it.

The sad part about this weekend was that this was my last dock diving gig until next season starts. Always makes me sad. I’ll put together a YouTube video of my year in dock diving shortly.

<Peace out>

It started with Brandy and Taylor picking me up at my house at 10:35 am with Owen in tow. I knew we had at least a four hour drive ahead of us.

I enjoyed our conversations throughout the drive but deep down inside I was so excited like a little kid waiting in line to ride a roller coaster.

We made a few stops on the way there (gas, food, snacks, bathroom breaks) so it took around five hours to finally arrive at our destination. Well worth the drive.

After we figured out where we needed to park and unload Owen we walked down to the beach. Oh my, it was so beautiful. Keep in mind this was only my third time being on an actual beach. I sat down on the white sand and took photos of the birds flying around while I waited for Brandy and Taylor to bring Owen out to the beach. I had butterflies in my stomach from the anticipation of what was to come.

Finally they appeared; It had seemed like hours because I was so excited to photograph Owen and Taylor galloping across the white sandy beach. It took Taylor around 10 minutes to get Owen use to the waves lapping at his hoofs. He is such an amazing horse.

I photographed Taylor and Owen for around two hours on the beach. It was magical. To watch those two interact with one another through my lens really touched a part of me. This moment in my life will always be etched in my memory. I can’t wait for my next photo session at the beach.

<Peace out>

Now don't get me wrong, I have photographed children, teenagers and adults. I found the photo session to be so boring. Pose here - snap, snap, snap - pose here - snap, snap, snap, and so on.... Just not my cup of tea. Animals do what they want to do almost all the time so you really have to work on getting that perfect image.

I love a good challenge. That's why I love photographing dock diving events or horses running around. There is so much excitement going on. My heart starts to beat faster and I start to sweat from the pure excitement of it all. It's such a thrill for me.

I know they say "You will never make any good money photographing just pets" but when it becomes more about the money and less about my passion then I need to put my camera equipment down. That's just how I feel about it.

<Peace out>

This blog will be about my feelings towards event photography. I started to really get into event photography three years ago when I started to attend dock diving events for dogs. My friend Lori introduced me to the sport and I fell in love with it.

It was such a hard event to photograph and I love a good challenge. My first attempt at photographing dogs jumping off a dock into a pool were horrible!!! I had no idea how to focus on the dogs quick movement or deal with such horrible lighting conditions. I swore I would get better at it even if it killed me.

I started going to every dock diving event I could find that was no further then three hours away from where I live. Well I did manage to find a lot of events. I stood out under that hot damn sun for hours just trying to capture that perfect image. I soon learned that you are pretty much stuck with whatever lighting God has planned for that day.

It's been three years now photographing dock diving events and I'm pretty happy with where my images are at now. Sure I still have issues sometimes tracking the focus of the dog but I'm much better at it now. I shoot in RAW format which helps a lot with the lighting conditions. 

I did attend an Arabian Horse Show last year at Perry Ga and I guess I pretty much bombed that event because only two people ordered images from me. The lighting conditions were horrible!! So needless to say I won't be doing anymore horse show events unless they are outdoors with better lighting conditions.

It is a tough gig being an event photographer nowadays because everyone seems to take photos or videos with their cell phones. This is what will eventually kill the event photographer. Oh and don't forget the amateur photographer who takes photos and then just gives his work away for free. I really love photographing the joy a dog has when he or she makes that leap into the pool but I also have bills to pay and a life to live, so I believe my days are numbered as an event photographer. I hope everyone enjoys their cell phone images because that will be all you have left when the water settles.

I'll start this blog off by telling you a little about me and my family. I have been married for seventeen years to a wonderful man. We currently have eight dogs. Seven of them are Pit-Bulls or have Pit-Bull in them. Diesel is an American Bulldog. I spend most of my time at home with them. They have all been fixed but occasionally Cyrus will attack one of my other dogs. So they really do need to have someone with them most of the time.

I love pet photography and I've been doing it now for nine years. I quit my full time job four years ago and have been a full time photographer ever since. It was a very scarey move but my husband has supported me 100%. He is so awesome!!!

I try to learn something new every week. Whether it be about my camera, editing, or lighting. It's important to me that I keep learning and pushing myself forward.

I hope one day that I'll have an actual studio. I'll be dangerous when I do. I have so many great ideas but I need a studio to pull them off. Don't get me wrong, I love going to the clients home to set-up but sometimes you need space to pull off some amazing ideas.

Well I hope I haven't bored anyone to tears. I'll try to post a blog once a week depending on what's going on.

<Peace out>